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The purpose of this paper is to consider various strengths and weaknesses of the academic review process with an emphasis on the effect the process has on the relevance of business journals, particularly in the marketing literature.

The authors not only highlight some of the literature addressing the review process but also present insight and opinion largely based on decades of experience editing, reviewing, writing and publishing.

Reviewers can help develop research papers, but reviewers remain gatekeepers who, theoretically, protect journals from publishing research that would diminish the truthful body of knowledge within a field. However, many inefficiencies, some of which involve volition, allow one to question whether the review process as we know it best accomplishes that purpose.

Recognizing that reviewers affect journal prestige, the paper concludes with a number of ideas for improving the gate-keeping and developmental functions for academic articles.

Society should extract value from what appears in publicly circulated, academic, refereed journals. However, to the extent that the publication process interferes with objective dissemination of knowledge, that value is diminished and perhaps even absent.

The paper intends to stimulate frank conversation about the Academy’s refereed publication process and factors that tend to interfere with its function.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how two aspects of place affect consumers’ authenticity perceptions of a wine and their willingness to pay for it. One aspect of place is the wine’s country of origin, specifically Old World versus New World wines. A second aspect of place is the technical terroir. A description of the terroir that is highly specific was expected to be perceived as more authentic and offer more value than a vague terroir description.

A total of 109 US adults participated in an online 2 × 2 experiment in which authenticity, willingness to pay and expertise were measured. ANCOVA and MANCOVA were used to analyze the data.

Subjects perceived the Old World wine as more authentic and were willing to pay more for it than the New World wine. Additionally, country of origin moderated the effect of terroir specificity on authenticity and willingness to pay. For New World wines, wine with specific information about the terroir was perceived as more authentic and more valuable than wine with vague terroir information. The opposite was found for the Old World wine. Finally, authenticity mediated the effect of this interaction on willingness to pay.

The sample limits generalizability, and the study design involved only a text description of the wine. While the description allowed control, future research should include a measure following an actual taste of the wine.

The implications concern the strength of the Old World wine stereotypes and the means of marketing wines from less traditional wine-producing regions. The Old World wines provide a quality signal that need not be reinforced by a specific description of the technical terroir. In contrast, a specific description of the technical terroir may well send positive signals for wines from New World countries.

This study is the first to empirically demonstrate that two different aspects of place influence a wine’s perceived authenticity.

In the current era of fake news, illusions, manipulations and other artificial attributes of virtuality and reality, authenticity is a virtue that people highly appreciate. This study aims to examine the influence of the personal brand authenticity of top football players on loyalty to the football discipline in general, via the mediation of personal brand identification.

Based on data collected from a convenience sample of 562 respondents from Poland via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method, this study explored, first, the influence of top football players’ personal brand authenticity on consumers’ identification with these football players, and second, how this identification may lead to enhancing loyalty to the football discipline. Finally, it verified how the loyalty effect (attitudinal and behavioral) varies across different categories of spectators.

Personal brand identification with authentic football stars is a focal factor enabling the creation of loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) to the whole discipline. Consumers’ perceptions of the authenticity of the personal brands of football players play a role in increasing identification with these personal brands. This identification is essential in achieving loyalty to football as a sports discipline via football celebrities.

Football players perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, leading to consumer identification with these players, which, in turn, increases consumers’ loyalty to football. Thus, the presence of authentic, skilled players is important for football, but the actual loyalty effect from authenticity can be achieved only by identification. Therefore, football requires exceptional, strong stars who reflect a set of desired personal values. Further research is needed to identify the desired set of values that leads to identification with football stars.

This study presents evidence that the personal brand authenticity of a football star is a driver of loyalty towards football discipline in general if the spectators’ identification with this superstar occurs. Moreover, this study proves that loyalty to football driven by the personal brand authenticity of football stars differs between spectators’ categories.

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

Understand the complex and nuanced nature of relationship marketing.

Define the relationship dimensions in human relationships and the variables relationship marketing which develop the customer–company relationship.

Develop a conceptual understanding of how these dimensions and variables build customer–company relationships.

Understand how the key characteristics of social media can be leveraged to build customer–company relationships.

This paper aims to present historical examples of collaborations between brand strategists and artists; provide an extensive, structured overview of existing published research on such collaborations and their effects; present seven papers comprising this special issue; and discuss ideas for further research into brand–art collaboration.

This is an editorial based mainly on an extensive and broad literature review.

First, this editorial underpins the relevance of brand–art collaboration in the past and present by reference to real examples. Second, it structures the diverse literature into four key aspects of the topic: inspiration, insights, identity and image. Third, it provides a glimpse of the seven papers selected for this special issue. Fourth and finally, it identifies a total of 16 avenues for further research, on four levels (artist, brand owner, consumer and cooperation process).

This editorial and the entire special issue together represent the first anthology on the topic of the interface between brand management and arts. The collection and classification of the existing literature, the formulation of ideas for future research and the content of the seven papers are collectively excellent starting springboards for new and fresh brand research projects.

This paper aims to focus on brand oldness associations and their measurement. Research on brand age points to a variety of interpretations concerning perceived brand oldness and establishes the existence of multiple positive consequences such as brand credibility, trust or attachment. However, the complexity and measurement of brand oldness associations are not yet well-established. This paper proposes a reliable and valid measurement scale of the concept.

The research follows a rigorous scale-development procedure based on eight empirical studies, with a total of 2,065 respondents. The data were analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling.

The scale consists of 18 items and six dimensions, namely, decline, expertise, maintenance, reminiscence, timelessness and tradition. Results demonstrate an effect of brand oldness associations on both brand attachment and brand equity.

The research was conducted in one country (France). Additional studies in other settings or countries should be carried out to establish generalizability of results and strengthen causality inferences.

This is the first research to study the notion of brand oldness associations. This study identifies its dimensions, develops a measurement scale and demonstrates its reliability and validity.

In spite of the rise of social media influencers observed in the 2010s, the direction and future of influencers are ambiguous. This popular yet overused marketing tool has shown certain problems and limitations such as a decrease in perceived authenticity and market saturation. Additionally, the outbreak of COVD-19 has amplified the significance of these factors and made many companies and influencers reconsider their involvement in influencer marketing. Within this context, this paper aims to explore whether influencers were impacted by diminishing perceived authenticity, market saturation or the prolonged pandemic. Also, the authors aim to investigate influencers’ perception of the future of influencer marketing post-pandemic.

To gain insight into trends in influencer marketing from the influencer’s perspective, this paper uses qualitative research in the form of interviews with influencers and industry professionals.

The findings highlight the importance of perceived authenticity for success in influencer marketing. Most interviewees indicated that they had noticed a boom in social media influencer marketing before the pandemic, yet provided mixed views regarding the market during the pandemic. Several believe that influencers will continue to be relevant in the increasingly digital world (e.g. increasing digital marketing spend and e-commerce), whereas an expectation of new digital platforms and innovations was also observed. In the long term, saturation and decreased effectiveness were predicted by several interviewees.

This under-researched topic is of relevance especially to consumer goods companies, as social media marketing and influencer marketing are currently highly effective and popular tools. To refine marketing strategies designed around influencers, understanding the limitations, in the context of COVID-19, is crucial.